5 ms·

Focus

77 points by PieSquared 16y ago

stretchwithme 16y ago
yawn
rauljara 16y ago
New homepage. (though I am taking the time to comment on it, so clearly it's not working as well as i'd like.)
quizbiz 16y ago
I am conceptualizing a personal home page that is a version of this but it fetches a task for me to do (from gmail tasks or Things) or it recommends me to read my most recently added boomark to delicious with tag todo. Any ideas on how to do this?
- dmoney 16y ago
  For delicious, have the site read the RSS feed for that tag (or just set that tag as your home page).
  - quizbiz 16y ago
    I wasn't aware delicious produced an RSS. Thanks!
rubyrescue 16y ago
for a while I used Charles as a system-wide proxy, with a "rewrite rule" that directs news.ycombinator.com to a similar page. related question - are there mac utilities that can do this during configurable hours of the day?
- Sam_Odio 16y ago
  Concentrate might be close to what you're looking for: http://getconcentrating.com http://getconcentrating.com My guess is that you could couple that with AppleScript and an iCal alarm to start Concentrate every morning.
- paulbaumgart 16y ago
  RescueTime comes with a Focus mode and a pre-seeded but configurable list of distracting websites: http://www.rescuetime.com/tour http://www.rescuetime.com/tour You don't set hours of the day, but you specify how long you want to "Get Focused". And you can't close the utility via the GUI to keep you honest; it takes a manual SIGTERM to close while in Focus mode. I've found it very useful, though unfortunately browser support can be flaky. It seems like every major browser release breaks the website tracking and blocking functionality and it takes a few weeks to a few months for the RescueTime utility to catch up. If you don't like using uncommon OS/browser configurations, you'll probably have better luck, though.
- wwortiz 16y ago
  http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/ (looks like you would have to configure the hours manually though.)
- Jasber 16y ago
  I accomplish this with a simple Python script: http://github.com/bradjasper/focus http://github.com/bradjasper/focus I felt guilty writing a script to stop from procrastinating, but it has actually helped tremendously.
- yanowitz 16y ago
  Great chrome plugin: stay focus'd that let's you designate verbotten sites, with x minutes a day allowed across all of them.
wizard_2 16y ago
It wouldn't have been noteworthy at all if I didn't sit down here to finish coding...
SandB0x 16y ago
Similar: http://www.merlinmann.com/rightnow/ http://www.merlinmann.com/rightnow/
donaq 16y ago
I just wasted 20 minutes looking at that, chuckling, tweeting the link, emailing it to everyone on my contact list and then having short "that was funny, ROTFL" conversations with the people who responded. Thanks a lot, pal.
mkeblx 16y ago
Isn't the point larger than there are certain sites that are timesucks but that in general surfing the internet is counter productive? It's not about whether you are looking at HN, it's whether you're browsing aimlessly. I have a question: what percent of the time is needed to be online or even just on a computer for doing all the pieces of a web software startup? I'd go with 20%, maybe less. And it would probably work better that way without a browser just a click away, ready to steal countless hours that would make the difference between making progress on a project and learning about HN members' workspaces. (I have a theory that HN is really a devious ploy by pg to divert the attention of wannabe web entrepreneurs from getting stuff done so that his YCers don't have competition.)

Focus

77 points by PieSquared 16y ago

stretchwithme 16y ago

yawn

rauljara 16y ago

New homepage. (though I am taking the time to comment on it, so clearly it's not working as well as i'd like.)

quizbiz 16y ago

I am conceptualizing a personal home page that is a version of this but it fetches a task for me to do (from gmail tasks or Things) or it recommends me to read my most recently added boomark to delicious with tag todo. Any ideas on how to do this?

dmoney 16y ago
For delicious, have the site read the RSS feed for that tag (or just set that tag as your home page).
- quizbiz 16y ago
  I wasn't aware delicious produced an RSS. Thanks!

rubyrescue 16y ago

for a while I used Charles as a system-wide proxy, with a "rewrite rule" that directs news.ycombinator.com to a similar page. related question - are there mac utilities that can do this during configurable hours of the day?

Sam_Odio 16y ago
Concentrate might be close to what you're looking for: http://getconcentrating.com http://getconcentrating.com My guess is that you could couple that with AppleScript and an iCal alarm to start Concentrate every morning.
paulbaumgart 16y ago
RescueTime comes with a Focus mode and a pre-seeded but configurable list of distracting websites: http://www.rescuetime.com/tour http://www.rescuetime.com/tour You don't set hours of the day, but you specify how long you want to "Get Focused". And you can't close the utility via the GUI to keep you honest; it takes a manual SIGTERM to close while in Focus mode. I've found it very useful, though unfortunately browser support can be flaky. It seems like every major browser release breaks the website tracking and blocking functionality and it takes a few weeks to a few months for the RescueTime utility to catch up. If you don't like using uncommon OS/browser configurations, you'll probably have better luck, though.
wwortiz 16y ago
http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/ (looks like you would have to configure the hours manually though.)
Jasber 16y ago
I accomplish this with a simple Python script: http://github.com/bradjasper/focus http://github.com/bradjasper/focus I felt guilty writing a script to stop from procrastinating, but it has actually helped tremendously.
yanowitz 16y ago
Great chrome plugin: stay focus'd that let's you designate verbotten sites, with x minutes a day allowed across all of them.

wizard_2 16y ago

It wouldn't have been noteworthy at all if I didn't sit down here to finish coding...

SandB0x 16y ago

Similar: http://www.merlinmann.com/rightnow/ http://www.merlinmann.com/rightnow/

donaq 16y ago

I just wasted 20 minutes looking at that, chuckling, tweeting the link, emailing it to everyone on my contact list and then having short "that was funny, ROTFL" conversations with the people who responded. Thanks a lot, pal.

mkeblx 16y ago

Isn't the point larger than there are certain sites that are timesucks but that in general surfing the internet is counter productive? It's not about whether you are looking at HN, it's whether you're browsing aimlessly. I have a question: what percent of the time is needed to be online or even just on a computer for doing all the pieces of a web software startup? I'd go with 20%, maybe less. And it would probably work better that way without a browser just a click away, ready to steal countless hours that would make the difference between making progress on a project and learning about HN members' workspaces. (I have a theory that HN is really a devious ploy by pg to divert the attention of wannabe web entrepreneurs from getting stuff done so that his YCers don't have competition.)